We were supposed to take a family trip to Japan this month, but because of the pandemic, we had to cancel our plans. One of the (MANY) things I was looking forward to was eating donuts from Mister Donut… specifically their pon de ring donuts. If you have not eaten these, you have not lived! I am not a huge fan of the traditional dense & cakey donuts in the United States. <I do like donuts from Krispy Kreme and Duck Donuts when they are fresh.> But these donuts in Japan… they are NEXT LEVEL. Not only are they pretty to look at, but the taste is just indescribable. The donuts are a perfect amount of chewy with a slight crisp on the outside.
During this quarantine, I have been craving these donuts so I looked for a copycat recipe. The first one I found was a fail… didn’t taste like the original at all.
The second recipe I tried by Oceans-Nadia was winner!! It tasted as close to the real thing as you could get, I think. But the recipe called for shiratamako, which is very hard to find (and expensive) where I live. So I experimented with using mochiko instead, and I also experimented with using different types of tofu. Yes, you heard right– TOFU! But you can’t taste it at all in the finished product. The tofu helps give the donuts just the right texture.
These donuts were so good we have made them THREE TIMES this week!
Here is our final recipe!
Mister Donut Pon de Ring Donut Copycat Recipe (makes 4 donuts)
Ingredients:
100g Mochiko (we used Koda Farms brand)
100g Pancake Mix (We used our favorite: Birch Benders Classic Recipe Pancake Mix)
100g Extra-Soft Tofu
100g Plain Yogurt
Vegetable Oil (for frying)
Parchment paper (4 squares, about 4inches by 4 inches)
For the glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp Milk
1 Tbsp Honey
Instructions:
- Mix the first 4 ingredients together in a bowl using your hands or a wooden spoon until it is all the same texture. It might look really dry at first but it will come together. After mixing, dump it out onto a clean surface and knead a few times. It should be soft like play-doh and slightly sticky. Start heating up oil to medium-high(I used about 4 cups of oil? Deep enough for frying the donuts)
- Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Set 3 of the pieces aside.
- Take one piece and divide it into 8 equal pieces. Roll each of those pieces into a ball.
- Arrange those 8 balls onto a piece of parchment paper so they they form a ring. The balls should touch each other but don’t smush them together.
- Repeat with the other dough so you end up with 4 rings total.
- Make the sugar glaze by mixing the powdered sugar, milk, and sugar together in a bowl.
- Carefully, scoop up each ring INCLUDING the parchment paper with a spatula-turner. Then gently slide the dough+paper into hot oil.
- Fry the donut for 1-3 minutes, then flip and fry for 1-3 more minutes (watch them carefully… I flip when they start turning golden in color). Discard the paper.
- When the donuts are done frying, carefully lift them out with tongs and dip them in the sugar glaze on both sides. Place on a cooling rack (I place my cooling rack on top of a baking sheet to catch all the drips).
- Wait a few minutes, then enjoy!
I am not a food blogger, so my recipe might be lacking. I highly recommend watching this video by ochikeron, especially if you are unsure about how to make the pon de ring shape. Her recipe is very similar!
Some additional notes:
- If you DO have shiratamako, you can use that instead of mochiko. It will make your donuts even more mochi-mochi. I made this recipe using just mochiko, just shiratamako, and half mochiko+ half shiratamako. The donuts turned out great each time.
- I have made this recipe with both regular tofu, and extra-soft tofu. The extra-soft tofu made the dough much easier to mix, but both tofus resulted in similar-tasting donuts.
- Instead of dipping the donuts in the sugar glaze, you can use a spoon or pastry brush to apply the glaze to the top of the donuts instead.
- Instead of this sugar glaze, you can dip the donuts in chocolate or kinako instead. Yum!
- The type of pancake mix you use could make a huge difference in the taste and texture of these donuts. We really love the Birch Benders mix. Other people have had success using Japanese hotcake mix.
- If making the pon de ring shape is intimidating, you can just roll the dough into a normal donut shape, or even just make donut holes.
Let me know if you try it!
